Upgrading a P3 600

[AnMig]

P3 600 should be fast enough to run most school applications, not unless you want to keep your students happy and enable them to play DOOM 3 when it comes out.
XP or W2K should work well on a P3 600 as long as you have at least 128 ram (256 preffered)

I know how slow w2k runs on old systems as most of our computers in our hospital run pentium 100,166, 200 some with only 64 ram others with 128.
They worked adequately when they ran windows 95 and 98 but our over the hill IT guy had the notion to put everybody on W2K. This was a noble Idea as it really is a more stable OS but you cant believe how slow these things run on just day to day office applications and web surfing. I am talking waiting 5-10 seconds to open a web page.

At home I have tried XP on a pentium 200 with 64 ram and it is slow as hell (did not have dirvers for the onboard stuff so used XP)

Having everybody on the same Operatng system would be nice but probably not practical in your case.


Print server adapter is an excellent Idea in your case (cost around$100)

Stick with the P3's and upgrade the RAM and OS

 

[Alacrity]

Hi An Mig,

I'm 90% decided that I'm going to buy a $66 Windows XP license, and a $50 256MB chip for each of our older Dell P3 600's/W98. It's my belief that this solution will extend the life of these PC's in a cost effective way and make them easier to use and more stable.


In a typical class, we have 3-5 PC's. One PC per class has a printer connected to it and the other 2 to 4 PC's "share" that printer. Is this a bad idea? Our old tech guy said that this was a very poor solution, but at the time we had no $$$ to buy any new equipment.

Would a print server adapter be a better solution? If so, why?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[crisp82]

Is it a standard printer or a proper network printer?

As long as it is configured properly, it should be ok. Windows Xp will run fine on those machines. My P2 350 and 256mb Ram runs it fine.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

It helps in plenty of cases. One, lets say that computer with the printer has a problem, then you'd have to go and for the time being put it on another computer and once its fixed, put it back. 2. The print server will handle the processing for the page which lets the person using the computer with the printer not notice any slowdown in speed. 3. In some cases, printing speed will increase depending on the type of printer your using, especially laser printers. You may not notice that much speed advantage on an inkjet since they take so long to print anyways.

One more, lets say one teacher wants to print something to another teacher, she can print it to her classroom directly i nstead of having to go there, hehe (just shows how lazy I'll become).

There are probably other situations, but I have work to do.

 

[novice]

I would recommend you contact crucial.com about your memory upgrades. They may be willing to give you a break on a volume order of guaranteed compatible PC100/PC133 ram for your 70 systems. They may even have a special price for schools. They offer excellent support, as well. I would concur that a 600 Mhz processor is more than adequate for the majority of office type apps. Heck, the workstations at my office are old P233 MMX's, and while slow, they are reliable and adequate for the word processing apps they run. Eventually we will upgrade to XP and then we will have to replace our entire system, but knowing the owners reluctance to invest in technology, I am confident that is well down the road.
chuck

 

[mechBgon]

I recommend Win2000 Pro with 192Mb to 256Mb of RAM, based on my experiences with the fleet at work. We have finished upgrading from Win98SE and the systems perform better, not worse, because with 192Mb+ of RAM, applications are initially launched from hard drive but they re-launch straight from RAM, doing an end-run around your antivirus software's desire to pick apart anything that comes off the hard drive. Actually, even 192Mb is covering this for all but my heaviest users, so get 128Mb modules and you're good. I suggest using Crucial's memory configurator to get guaranteed-compatible high-quality modules, you can get a bulk discount and net-30 terms on that much RAM if you fill out their credit app. It's likely that your Dells are using ECC modules.

By the way, the slowest systems in our fleet are P2 350's and they are "adequate." 600MHz P3's should be great.

Another huge benefit of Win2000 or WinXP Pro is the security. It's definitely worth it just for the security alone... make the users Restricted Users and use a strong administrative password, and you'll thank yourself down the road.

If you do go with WinXP then you will want WinXP Pro, not Home, and probably more RAM too (384Mb perhaps). MS will support WinXP Pro for about one year beyond Win2000 Pro, not a big difference: additional info

Recent-model hard drives are also a lot quicker and would perk those rigs up noticably... probably time for that anyway, right? On the 440BX's ATA33 controllers, they will be hampered a bit, but if you have enough RAM, it will only be slow on the first launch of the app and then re-launch from RAM from then on, anyway.

 

[Jhhnn]

Find the exact model of your Dells, use the crucial memory configurator to figure out what kind of ram you need, even if you buy it elsewhere. This can be tricky, and embarassing/expensive if you goof...

Despite what enthusiasts think, WinXP runs OK on 128megs, better on 192, optimal for office apps at 256. Run some test configurations to see how it all works before you jump right up and opt for 256 for every box. Simply adding 128 to systems with single 64meg sticks makes a remarkable difference, and could save a lot of $$.

If the computers can access the internet, I'd d/l and run adaware 6.0 regularly- kids's sites are notorious for spyware, which can bring down system performance like crazy... also selectively kill stuff in startup, winini, etc.. Your boxes should all be able to see each other if they're using the same file system, FAT32 for compatibility with Win98...

Print servers are a mixed bag- they'll increase performance on the machines that no longer have print duties, and save lost jobs when the server box crashes.... but they'll require some configuration work on existing machines... overall a good thing... Simple two port models are inexpensive...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
If the computers can access the internet, I'd d/l and run adaware 6.0 regularly- kids's sites are notorious for spyware, which can bring down system performance like crazy... also selectively kill stuff in startup, winini, etc.. Your boxes should all be able to see each other if they're using the same file system, FAT32 for compatibility with Win98...

This is another benefit of having tight security... the Restricted Users will be unable to install most of that junk. Visibility across the network will not depend on the file system used btw, and NTFS is desirable for security and stability, although it is a bit slower. I wouldn't be sharing from box to box in the first place unless there was a very good reason, and with the administrative password I can browse \\computername\C$ from any system in the network when required.

Centrally-managed antivirus software would be a good buy too. We're using McAfee VirusScan 4.5.1 on the desktop, set to Maximum Security so only Administrator-class users can mess with its configuration, plus McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator to coordinate updates and daily scans. I can pop up ePolicy Orchestrator Console on my system and view a simple pie chart showing the state of my virus definitions across the LAN; I can force the systems to launch an update or scan NOW if I feel the need; I can view virus alerts and attacks along with time, computer, user and specific virus; I can set VirusScan to block particular websites... it isn't perfect, but I like it anyway.

(edit: if nothing else, ePO Console lets me put an important-looking pie chart on my monitor while I do the day-to-day drudgery of setting up systems on my workbench! )

 

[Jhhnn]

MechBgon is correct about the security/antivirus stuff. You seemed to want the machines to be able to see each other, that's why I mentioned the file system compatibility, in the event you don't get to upgrade to XP on all the machines, or get the printservers. Your 98 boxes won't be able to call up an XP machine's printer, for example.... Print servers can improve security, too...

I think that Adaware is available in a network version, check their site to see....

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Find the exact model of your Dells, use the crucial memory configurator to figure out what kind of ram you need, even if you buy it elsewhere. This can be tricky, and embarassing/expensive if you goof...

Despite what enthusiasts think, WinXP runs OK on 128megs, better on 192, optimal for office apps at 256. Run some test configurations to see how it all works before you jump right up and opt for 256 for every box. Simply adding 128 to systems with single 64meg sticks makes a remarkable difference, and could save a lot of $$.

Crucial is a good idea. I was thinking the same. Yeah, 256 is great for XP with Office apps. I ran this for months. 192 isn't quite as good, but for a low end system it seems OK. However, given that the systems right now have only 64 MB, it may make more sense just to go straight for a 256 for each machine unless money is very tight. 256-384 seems to be the sweet spot for an average system (but like I said, 192 is OK).

Right now, compatible Crucial RAM would be around $46 for each stick of 256 MB PC133 SDRAM 7.5 ns. Makes no sense to get PC100 because it costs much more. (128 MB is about $20 less.)

Maybe they'll give you a deal, and with Crucial, at least you'll rest assured you get the right RAM.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

If security is a problem, heres what I think will help the most

1. Get all the updates for the OS for crying out loud, every school I go to (I'm a freshman in High School right now), they have no updates whatsoever. That goes for their servers in the school as well, at my school, we get a drive on the network which is just really a folder that appears as an "H:" drive to us for storing files so we don't have to use floppy disks (I can't wait till they start putting CD burners in em all so we can use CDs between home and school!)

2. Symantec has some good solutions for security. You can get a rack server size computer, which will have a firewall and probably some other small things, possibly even Antivirus. This would add a good amount of security with a firewall (this one I'm talking about has a 500mbs through put so it should be enough). You should also get an Anti-virus software like Norton Antivirus.

3. EDIT: I removed this for my own reasons...

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Alacrity, hows the upgrade coming along? Could you possibly e-mail me at ankygupta@hotmail.com or PM me? I couldn't get your e-mail address or PM you, I just have a few questions, thanks.